My name is Dave Stancliff. Walk down the road of life with me each day for news, opinions, and slices of my life. Be prepared for honesty and humor. I believe in sharing, and the power of love!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Suffer the Children: The lethal legacy of Agent Orange

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 02/21/2010 01:30:30 AM PST

Although Sharon L. Perry has never been to Vietnam, what happened to her husband, who served there during his military service, has affected her life forever.

Since he died in 2005 she has “waded through grief, hate, anger, pain, rage, and lots and lots of heartache.”

The heartache started long before Reuben “Bud” C. Perry III died from a myocardial infarction attributed to his diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, and Hep C, all Agent Orange (AO) related illnesses.

It began with the birth of their oldest daughter, Danielle, who has been sick all her life. Sharon fought for years with doctors who didn't seem to know what caused her daughter to suffer debilitating muscle spasms in her neck that often lasted up to two hours.

”Finally,” Sharon said, “a doctor treated her because he said her muscles would atrophy if not taken care of.”

2 comments:

This statement in your Times-Standard article, "Suffer the Children: The lethal legacy of Agent Orange" is in error:"Justice came on July 18, 2008, when the “Agent Orange Equity Act” was passed to make sure all veterans exposed to AO could get disability ratings. The burden of proof was finally lifted from the veterans' shoulders. Facts prevailed for once. Any veteran who went to Vietnam and parts of Korea along the DMZ, is now presumed to have been exposed to AO and eligible for a service-connect rating."

In fact, the Agent Orange Act you refer too died in committee so it's business as usual for Vietnam Veterans, particularly the Blue Water Navy.Presented to by Congressman Bob Filner, HR2254, The Agent Orange Act of 2009 is in committee with 244 cosponsors and is designed to correct the removal of presumption for Blue Water and TLC Veterans. Presented by Senator Gillibrand, S1939 is a companion bill in the Senate with identical wordage and has 14 cosponsors.It's incumbent upon all Vietnam Veterans, their family, friends and all Americans to contact their Congress to get these bills enacted into law.